A simple weeknight dinner

Looking at the leftover fried salmon I have in the fridge from last night’s dinner, I knew what I would cook for dinner today. It would be our family’s favourite fried rice. Home-cooked fried rice is a quick, delicious and nutritious dish. It is fast to whip up and can be put together in about thirty minutes. I think it makes quite a well balanced meal since it contains carbohydrates from the rice, protein from the fish and eggs and vitamins and minerals from the vegetables. Besides using the leftover salmon, I used eggs, french beans, and steamed rice. I didn’t have leftover rice so I cooked rice from scratch. It is said that overnight rice is better for cooking fried rice but we seldom have that much leftover rice to cook a portion enough for three persons.

Fried rice is a versatile dish. For protein, you can use chicken, beef, prawns, or char siu (barbecued pork). You can be creative and use fresh or frozen vegetables. You can work up something delicious and use up leftovers as well. A win-win weeknight dinner. The recipe I am sharing today is something I came up with so it is certainly not restaurant standard. I would say the taste of this fried rice is home-styled, mom type, and comforting. It reminds me of my late-mother’s fried rice, always comforting and something I look forward to eating.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice (the cup I used is the rice-cooker cup)

2 eggs

salmon or meat of your choice

french beans or frozen vegetables (you can use the amount to your liking)

3 cloves garlic, minced

21/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

fresh parsley or spring onion for garnishing

Directions:

Heat vegetable oil in a wok or deep frying pan over medium heat.

Add minced garlic and stir fry for about one minute or till about golden brown. (Tip: do not take your eyes off the garlic as they burn very quickly)

Add french beans and continue to stir fry.

Next, add the rice and continue frying, mixing the rice with the fried garlic and french beans.

Next, make a well in the centre of the wok, pushing the rice to the sides of the wok. Add a small amount of vegetable oil to cook the eggs. Crack two eggs into the oil and let it cook for a minute. Then mix all the rice and eggs together.

When the eggs have been mixed with the rice you can add in your cooked meat, in this case it is salmon. If you are using fresh, raw meat, you have to stir fry your meat after stir frying the garlic in step 2.

Season with salt and continue to fry till the salt is mixed well with the fried rice.

Turn off the fire, garnish with fresh parsley or spring onion and serve.